Competition Boards: Kory Worl

Kory Worl received the 2010 Second Year Award.

SOMA CHOCOLATE: 793 Tehama Street, San Francisco

This project was based around the design of a small artisan chocolate factory in the South Market area of San Francisco. As an urban infill project, we had to deal with issues of egress, circulation, program, work environment, and light within the defined Twenty-five by Eighty foot site. The program called for production spaces, packaging, a tasting room, offices, a flavor lab, and a residence.

With this project I attempted to bridge the gap not only between employees within the facility, but between consumer and product. The plans show interlocking and coexistence of uses on floors in an attempt to create visual contact between employees, fostering an environment of understanding. This visual contact is also important for consumers who travel through the building on tours or for tasting. Wooden screen walls define interior space and combat the noise of machines, while still allowing visitors to comprehend the immense procedure involved in chocolate making. In addition to this, I emphasized natural light in all of the spaces. As the floors gain elevation, they rotate and deform towards true south for better sun exposure. Light then enters the spaces in two ways, first through a series of skylights opened up by the rotation, and second through glassy penetrations through the concrete bearing wall. Lastly, light is filtered down into the entrance alley with a polished aluminum screen. The screen disintegrates as it gets closer to the ground, acting as bridge between my project and the existing building next-door.

In order to unite the form of the floors from the outside, I exposed the structure, wrapped the building vertically with a screen and horizontally with the elevator core/bearing wall, pushed an expansive stair to the outside, and created a stable front facade. The perforated screen on the left hand site reflects the dynamic and light nature of the rotation behind it, while the elevator core serves as the massive axis of rotation. The aluminum cladding system of the remainder of the building is a crisp take on the horizontal wood stripping of the older buildings around the site.